Christmas Greetings from The Cair
by wildhorses1492
Summary: You are hereby invited to a Yuletide ball at Cair Paravel, hosted by their Royal Majesties; High King Peter, King Edmund, Queen Susan, Queen Lucy, and the High King's wife, Queen Amalia. Greetings, and Merry Christmas, 'tis "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year"!


**It's the most wonderful time of the year  
>With the kids jinglebelling and everyone telling you<br>Be of good cheer  
>It's the most wonderful time of the year<strong>

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><p>"I'll get you, <em>Your<em> _Majesty_!" Edmund shouted with a laugh as the High King's stallion galloped past him and his mount. The blonde haired young man simply laughed as he pulled up his bay stallion several seconds later, snow kicked up by the animal's hooves. "I won, I _always_ win!" He called out; waiting until his brother had rode up alongside him to boast over his victory.

"Lucky you." Edmund muttered, patting his black stallion, Night, on the neck. Both kings reined their horses to a stop as several children ran past them, oblivious to the high-strung animals they played around. The children laughed and shouted carols, waiving strands of bells tied to strings in the air as they ran past.

"This really is the most wonderful time of the year, you know." Edmund commented, watching the children go down the street, before kicking his mount back into a walk through the wintery, cobbled streets of Cair Paravel to the castle. The High King and his brother had just finished a tour of the city, making sure all was in the right for this Yuletide's Eve.

"Merry Christmas King Peter, King Edmund!" several of their subjects shouted jollily, walking past them with wrapped brown packages most-likely filled with trinkets and gifts for their family members and close friends.

"Urresta sends her greetings, my Kings!" a Satyr called out as he walked past to the gates, going home for the holidays.

"Tell her they are warmly received by all residing at the palace, Restvar!" Edmund called back.

"Yes, Sire, this is the most wonderful time of the year. I could not agree more." Peter said, looking across to his brother with a smile. Both joked around with calling each other "Sire" and "Your Majesty" since their crowning's. Though it was proper etiquette, both insisted they would rather go by their given names, and agreed that, when in the company of friends and relations, they would do so. Alone, and with an audience, as when they held court, then they would address one another with their long, imperious titles.

"It really can't be nearly eleven years since our coming, can it?" Peter asked; dismounting in the stables, looking over his mount's back to meet his brother's brown eyes as he unsaddled the stallion.

"It is, and I believe tomorrow is the anniversary, is it not?" Edmund asked, fiddling with the trappings on his saddle as he thought about their coming. Even after all these years, thinking about that time was still painful for him. It brought back dark memories that he would rather forget.

"Take heart, brother, all has been forgiven. Be of good cheer, now 'tis not the season for dark memories. Come, Amalia and the girls are waiting for us." Peter said cheerfully, putting his arm around his brother's shoulders as they walked out of the stable to the tall castle.

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><p><strong>It's the hap-happiest season of all<br>With those holiday greetings and gay happy meetings  
>When friends come to call<br>It's the hap-happiest season of all**

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><p>Edmund, Peter, you're back!" Lucy shouted, running to them from where she was decorating the great hall with Amalia and Susan. She grabbed Edmund's hands and swung him around, laughing. Edmund played along and joined in her laughter, his quiet demeanor broken by Lucy's vibrant streak of life. The halls echoed with their laughter and footfalls as they danced around the majestic, vaulted marble room.<p>

"Lucy, really, you're supposed to be twenty, it is not fitting for a woman of your age to go dancing and squawking about as if one was eight!" Susan said with a twinkle in her eye as she glided over to her siblings, she did not truly mean what she had said, as the holiday reached through her proper manners, as it did with everyone. She unconsciously twirled a strand of grey hair that was too short for her long braids. If a body looked close, they could see the small battle scar that caused the unnatural grey bit of hair, but Susan typically dyed the lock. Though, having been so busy with decorating and the festivities, she had quite forgotten the wayward strand.

"You shall never guess who decided to pay us a visit this year!" Susan turned to her older brother, as she had given up hope of getting Edmund and Lucy to stop their play.

"Oh really, who? Do tell! Whoa!" Edmund shouted, and turned to look over at his sister from where he was dancing, nearly tripping over Lucy as he stopped concentrating on their wild dance. Falling to the ground, his silver crown bouncing across the marble floors with a clang, he looked over at Lucy with a grin. "Little children will never learn to stop pretending!" He laughed, helping her back up before chasing after his crown. "I agree!" She shouted, skipping over to join her sister, brother and his wife, Queen Amalia.

"Well…Who?" Edmund asked, finally joining them, rubbing at a tarnished spot on the silver of his crown before placing it back on his head.

"Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, they journeyed all the way here from Beaversdam! Now, Mr. Beaver has acquired several grey hairs since we last saw him, but he's still he jolly old self, and Mrs. Beaver is just as full of season's cheer. They'll join us shortly, after they have a rest."

"Rest? Come on humans, while we're young! Do you really think I'm going to travel all the way here and take a _nap_ before saying greetings to all of you? Certainly not! Though, last time I was here, these stairs weren't quite so long, nor so tedious." The happy voice, feigning sarcasm shouted from the stairs at the far end of the room.

"Mr. Beaver, do you really expect to talk to their Majesties like that and not get a tongue-lashing?" Mrs. Beavers silvery voice called out, as she appeared behind her husband.

"I expect he doesn't, Peter once threatened to turn him into a hat, I think he is owed a large breadth of leeway in what he discusses, do you not agree High King Peter?" The golden voice coming from behind them caused everyone to turn in surprise and happiness. The warmth of summer and the calmness of spring were carried to them in that gentle, yet commanding tone. Light seemed to fill the room as the royals and the two beavers turned to behold the gold lion.

"Aslan! You came, and just in time for Yuletide too!" Lucy cried in excitement, rushing to the lion.

"I'm pleased the Great King of kings could venture to Cair Paravel to be with us on this auspicious occasion!" Edmund said, smiling. Aslan smiled back, as only the great lion could.

"Oh Aslan, I was just _hoping_ you'd join us this season!" Lucy whispered into the lion's soft golden mane. "I could not stay away any longer, Dear One." Aslan replied, putting a velvety paw around her in his manner of a hug.

"It is truly good to see you again." Susan said, smiling. "Ah, my gentle queen of the Southern Sun. I see you are well, I am glad of that." He nodded his head in her direction, referring to the complications regarding Rabadash. She blushed slightly, before recovering herself.

"Yes, it is good to be here, though I can't be with you long. Now, where is this son of the Son of Adam that I have heard about?" He turned his gaze to the High King and his wife. Amalia smiled down at the baby before walking over with Peter to where Aslan stood.

"May you someday rule with bravery and courage, little one, whatever befalls you in your path of life." He said softly, breathing on the child. It was not uncommon in the Pevensie's Golden Age for Aslan to bless young children and newborns.

"What do you call him?" He asked, looking up at the two from gazing down at the baby. "Lucian, Aslan." Peter said, smiling down at his wife, putting his arm around her waist.

"Well then, Let's see this fingerling!" Mr. Beaver cried happily, arriving at the end of the hall. Everyone laughed as Mr. and Mrs. Beaver fussed over the baby. Aslan reclined by the fire, telling Lucy and Edmund stories of old Narnia while they lounged around him on the floor, as they had when they were children. I rather like to think that they never grew up.

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><p><strong>There'll be parties for hosting<br>Marshmallows for toasting And caroling out in the snow  
>There'll be scary ghost stories<br>And tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago**

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><p>"Peter, hurry, the guests are coming!" Amalia called up the stairs, waiting for him. The Royal Women, as Peter and Edmund referred to Amalia, Lucy and Susan, were hosting yet <em>another<em> Yuletide ball, though this one was different, as children had been invited along with their parents, this night being Yuletide Eve.

"I'm coming my dear, but Lucian woke, I don't think he wanted to miss another ball this year." Peter said with a smile, handing her the fussing baby. She smiled back, cooing at the little one as they walked into the great hall.

The adults danced while the children ran about the edges of the room, laughing and giggling as they chased one another, mythical and human Narnian children alike. After several hours, Mr. Tumnus presented marshmallows with an artful flourish, directing the noisy group to the large hearth, sticks filled with the white, sticky treats in hand. The adults soon joined them as the evening wore on, once they grew tired of dancing.

"King Edmund, tell us one of your ghost stories!" several children piped up when the dark haired king walked into sight. "No, let High King Peter tell stories about Yuletides from his world!" yet another group shouted. "No, no, let's get Queen Susan, Queen Amalia and Queen Lucy to sing carols!" still more cried eagerly.

"Children, Quiet!" Peter intoned over the loud arguing of which monarch should go first. A dead silence filled the room as the squabbling stopped.

"How about an agreement of peace? I say that the High King should tell us a story first, for all of you young ones, myself included." Peter looked at him witheringly, it was just like the Just king to have him go first. Edmund shrugged, smiling. Peter remembered more stories from their world, being oldest, he couldn't change that.

"Then, following that, the Queens will sing carols," Here Edmund grinned at his sisters, amidst their looks of dismay before going on, "and then I will end with a ghost telling. Well, are these terms of peace agreeable, or shall you have declared a war against us?" Edmund looked around at the children expectantly. He wasn't called the Just King for nothing.

"Yes! We agree! Tell us a story King Peter!" they all chorused. Peter smiled at the eager faces indulgently before sitting in an armchair and beginning.

"How about the story of the Miracle Tree? Yes? Well then… In a country called England, long ago and far, far away, there was a horrid, ghastly war going on, and four children were told that there wasn't going to be a tree that year. Well, one day they awoke to shouts and cheers, running downstairs, they discovered their father, and several of his friends, bringing in a tree, much like this one here, though, not so very large," Peter commented, looking over at the majestic fir tree in the center of the darkened room, candles aglow on its many branches.

" "Do we really get a tree?" the children shouted ecstatically. "No, I just thought this tree would look better here in the house than outside…." At their dismayed faces he laughed and said; "Yes, of course the tree is yours!" Well, they spent seemingly hours deciding just where they wanted it, finally deciding on the large room in the front of the house. That evening, they sat around it on the floor, wondering what they would do now, there were no gifts to go under it, as they hadn't any means to buy presents for themselves, or their parents."

" "Well, what do we do now?" the oldest girl asked, looking around. "Perhaps, well, perhaps we don't need gifts. We have each other, and father is not hurt or been sent away yet, and we have mother. We are better off than others. Isn't that right?" the youngest girl asked, staring up at the tree. "Yes, you're right!" her older brother said, jumping up excitedly. He dashed off, leaving his oldest brother and sister, and his youngest sister sitting there confused."

"He came back moments later with their mother and father. "We are the best present I think, we have each other, and right now, that is all we truly need." He said softly. Everyone agreed, the tree was a miracle, but the true miracle was realizing that the meaning of Christmas is not wrapped packages with shiny ribbons, but the gift of family, and the love of one person to another." Peter finished, looking around at the silent children, his gaze coming to rest on Edmund.

The Just King did not remember that Christmas, he knew, but the High King did. It was one he would never forget, especially now.

"What carol should we sing?" Susan called out.

"Dark Now Light!" requested a small faun sitting near the front, his little playmates nodding. It was basically a Christmastime tale put to song about the four royals, and how they brought the return of Christmas to Narnia.

"Oh, very well." Susan said, smiling.

"_The snow shone dark,_

_The Witch left her mark._

_Eternal winter, without good cheer_

_It seemed she had brought never ending drear. _

_Then, suddenly, the dark grew light,_

_As the four came into sight,_

_Winter has met her end,_

_The snow no longer the Witch's friend. _

_Christmas was come, dark now undone!_

_Hark, the glow of light,_

_For Aslan is now in sight_

_Dark has now become light…_

Everyone soon joined in on the verses, singing at first solemnly, the adults remembering the horrors of the truly eternal winter before the four and Aslan brought its death. Then they started to smile, and sing because they could be confident that she would never reign over them again.

"Now, which ghost story do you want?" Edmund asked, after they'd sung several carols, the children now looking sleepy. He was hoping that this would put them to sleep, as his "ghost tellings" were rather mild by his own comparisons.

"Maugrim, please?" a Centaur colt asked, his chestnut colored legs curled up underneath him.

"The White Witch's Police captain prowled the woods, searching for the prince and princesses he knew were hiding just out of his reach, angrily, he howled to his pack of officers. They gathered around him. "Bring me back that Fox, I want to ask him something." The leader snarled. Silently several of the pack darted off into the underbrush…" Edmund trailed off, noticing the sleeping children. Good, he'd rather not finish that tale, as most of it was true, he'd heard it from the Wolf Captain's mouth, adding a few of his own embellishments to make it more scary.

"It seems as if our night has come to an appropriate end, Ladies, Gentlemen, I fear the hour is late, and these little ones are in need of their beds. Tomorrow Father Christmas brings them gifts under their own trees." Edmund said, returning to his more somber attitude of wise councilor and just king.

"Farewell your Majesties, and Merry Christmas! The mothers, fathers and married couples whispered as they left with the tired children. The four Kings and Queens walked back into the castle as the snow started to fall again, singing _"It's the most wonderful time of the year"_ softly to themselves as they thought about the coming day.

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><p><strong>It's the most wonderful time of the year<br>There'll be much mistletoe-ing  
>And hearts will be glowing<br>When loved ones are near  
>It's the most wonderful time of the year<strong>

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><p>Lucy and Edmund dashed off once the last carriage was well on its way. Peter and Amalia walked in last, talking about the ball, and how wonderful the year had been. The looked up when they heard muffled laughter from above. Susan stood next to the tree, a hand over her smile. Edmund and Lucy leaned out over the bannister of the grand staircase that bordered either side of the wide double doors, both held mistletoe.<p>

Peter looked over at Amalia with a bemused yet hopeless expression. "Well, I believe they would be very disappointed if we do not give them what they want, don't you agree My King?" Amalia asked, smiling, her eyes sparkling. "There really is no less embarrassing way out of this, is there?" He asked as she faced him and slid her arms around his neck. "No…It was a good conspiracy though…" She whispered before he kissed her.

Lucy and Edmund grinned at one another. Running down the stairs, they joined Susan next to the tree. "I wonder, now that you've got them started, how long before they stop?" Susan laughed softly at their dismayed expressions. "Ahh, I see, you had forgotten. Well, no matter."

"It just feels good to be together for this Yuletide. We couldn't help it, this is the calmest it's been since the beginning of this month, and we've been planning this for weeks!" Lucy said, glancing around the tree to where the High King and his wife still stood.

"Yes, being together is the best gift. Truly so." Susan whispered, turning to stare into the flames of the roaring fire.

"The most wonderful time of the year is now." Edmund said, putting his arms around Lucy and Susan.

"Yes, when all our loved ones are near and family seems so close." Lucy agreed.

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><p><strong>It's the most wonderful time of the year<br>There'll be much mistletoe-ing  
>And hearts will be glowing<br>When loved ones are near  
>It's the most wonderful time<br>It's the most wonderful time  
>It's the most wonderful time of the year<strong>

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><p>"We hope you enjoyed the party, perhaps we'll invite you again next year? Merry Christmas and a happy new year! Remember to spend time with all your family and close friends, as that is the true meaning of Christmas. Everyone here at the Cair sends their Christmas greetings!"<p>

_**It's the most wonderful time of the year…..**_

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><p><strong>AN: **I own nothing!** Song lyrics by Amy Grant, characters belong to C.S. Lewis, excluding Queen Amalia, she's mine!**

**Well, tell me what you think! I enjoyed writing this, as I love the idea of a Narnian Christmas! Amalia is from one of my other Narnian stories, "Star~Crossed" if you've read that, you'll know who Lucian and Queen Amalia are. Merry Christmas! ~ W.H. 1492 **


End file.
